Tag / baigan bharta

While Indian makes up for one of the big three ethnic groups in Malaysia, when it comes to Indian food, the Northern variety is definitely one of the least represented. There’s a 24/7 mamak restaurant in every commercial areas, but a true Nothern style cuisine, or in case of Big Singh Chapati, a Punjabi restaurant, is much less common.

BIG Singh Chapati, Subang SS15

So for the Nothern Indian cuisine fans like myself and Haze, we were quite delighted to stumble upon this place while visiting Jyu Raku, one of our favorite Japanese restaurants just a few doors down from Big Singh Chapati.

On our two visits there so far, we tried four different dishes to go with butter naan (RM 5), garlic naan, and white rice (Basmati?).

The butter naan (RM 5) was my favorite, freshly made and packed with generous amount of buttery goodness. Use it to wrap with any of their dozens of dishes and you’ve got yourself a winner.

palak mutton, aloo gobi

Palak mutton (RM 22.9) is a bit different from the palak paneer (spinach + cottage cheese) dish I’m more accustomed to, but they got the muttonsoft and flavorful as well as the spinach on definitely on point here.

Aloo gobi masala (RM 12.9), one of my go-to Northern Indian dishes did not disappoint here, the symphony between potato, cauliflower, onion, and various spices worked wonder.

naan, masala chicken, baingan bharta

Masala chicken (RM 16.9) was again a more than decent dish here, and I was really happy that they have baigan bharta (RM 11.9)a type of smashed eggplant dish), the very first Nothern Indian dish I first had over a decade ago as a student in US, I probably had this in Minneapolis, certainly brought back the memory.

Overall, we rate Big Singh Chapati pretty high, and would definitely return again rather often in the future.

One of the things I learned from going to college in the States was that Indian food is not limited to spicy curry, tandoori, nasi kandar, and roti canai. There were a host of other dishes that are mostly vegetarian, and mostly absent from the local Indian/mamak restaurants back in KL.

Later I would find out that India is a big country, with varying culinary cultures in different regions. The version of Indian food here in Malaysia is mostly influenced from the Southern region of India, while those available in States usually originates from the Northern region.

ingredients of baingan bharta, vegetarian

My favorite dish from this Punjabi/Northern Indian cuisine is Baingan Bhrata – a name that took me a while to remember and be able to spell it. It is basically an eggplant dish with mixture of onion, tomato, garlic, chili (or capsicum) and curry spices all cooked into almost like a pulp.

While presentation is never easy for something that looks like a pile of mud, this dish is quite strong tasting and flavorful. This is not a difficult dish to prepare, but one that is quite tedious in preparation, but here goes!

the key is to roast the eggplant first

Ingredients:

one large eggplant (brinjal, aubergine, or whatever you want to call it)

1 tomato

1 capsicum

1 yello onion

7-8 cloves of garlic

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

2 tablespoon cooking oil

stir-fry everything till soft, add garam masala too

Instructions:

roast the eggplant in oven at 175 Celsius for 40 minutes, you might want to turn it over half way. The eggplant is ready when the skin is charred and start to cave in. Alternatively, you can put it in a microwave for 8-10 minutes, or grill it on your gas stove too

in the mean time, chopped all other ingredients finely

heat up cooking oil, and start frying onion, garlic, and capsicum for 3-4 minutes or until onion is translucent

next add tomato, stir for a minute

finally add eggplant and all the spices, and stir fry everything for a few more minutes until you get everything a pulp

add coriander as garnish (should have chopped them but I forgot)

Serve while hot, goes well with chapati or basmati rice but normal steamed rice will do too.

Happy cooking!

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